Gaudiya Matha association

[Guest guest]

> Good points, Jahnu prabhu, but I will tell a story here, as an example of

> what happens when it all goes wrong. Hariaballabha has given us a

> beautiful example of what happens when things are done in perspective, but

> sometimes they are not. Whilst I do not like to find fault, I will note

> that there are circumstances where things seem to be done without being

> rational. For example, we have a certain regulation, that those people who

> have taken shelter of a guru outside of ISKCON must not serve inside of

> ISKCON, but instead in their Guru Maharaja's matha. This is perfectly

> valid and normal Vaisnava etiquette.

 

There are also many exceptions to that - many. I would humbly suggest it

depends entirely on the attitude of that particular devotee.

 

> However, I do know of quite a few

> situations where 'serve' has been interpreted in such a broad manner as to

> bar those Vaisnavas from even attending services in the temple, going to

> nama-hattas, or any other sort of Festival programmes. People do this, and

> yet any non-Vaisnava seems allowed to attend. People of all faiths go to

> nama-hattas and other programmers, yet with some devotees - when they

> truly take that step to make a connection to the sampradaya, out of

> genuine faith - they are shunned as being worse than the rest. I do not

> want to say the word, but situations like that smack of 'hypocricy'. Fine,

> yes, exclude people when they prove to be a nuisance, but when they do

> not, is it so fair to judge a book by its cover?

 

Every individual situation has its merits, and again I would caution against

generalisations - it doesn't represent the whole, and is not indicative of

every situation. Having said that, I don't think it's much value to inspect

every individual situation. So what's the solution? Possibly concerning

ourselves with our own 'circle of concern'. What use to worry about how this

happened and how that happened? What's the point in long winded discussions

about supposed 'guru reform'? I'd like to see a move towards our own

'backyard' mending before we attempt to take on, for example, the supposed

'issue' of 'qualification' amongst our gurus and sannyasis. I'm not in any

way diminishing your concern, or dismissing it - it's a valid concern, but I

don't think this is a valid discussion. From my experience, everyone has a

different opinion, and I'm dead set against opening the gates to allow the

bitterness of a few to be voiced in a public forum and consequently

offending many, many devotees in the process. Your ideas to discuss applied

Krishna consciousness were good....

>

> Just some food for thought... I don't like to criticise, and the 'mutual

> respect' that Jahnu speaks of is clearly evident by and large, but I would

> like to highlight what happens when it is not.

 

I think we're all aware of what happens when it's not present. I'd like to

see a little more of a positive slant on things. Do we REALLY have to go

over this again?!!

 

Ys

Braja Sevaki dd

>

> Your servant,

> Rama Kesava dasa

>

> > I think the problems arise when disenfranchized disciples join other

> > groups, then come back to ISKCON telling everyone how useless ISKCON

> > is, how corrupt the GBC is, how this and that guru fell down etc.

> > There is no one in ISKCON who has gone out of their way to condemn

> > other sects of bhakti, it is only when these other groups attack

> > ISKCON being disrespectful to its devotees that the problems arise,

> > because then any loyal ISKCON member will feel compelled, and indeed

> > it is every member's duty, to defend ISKCON against these attacks.

> [...]

> > Apart from Narayan Maharaja's group, I don't know of any other Gaudiya

> > matha which is disrespectful towards ISKCON. ISKCON co-exists nicely

> > with the other Gaudiya mathas in an atmosphere of mutual respect. It

> > is not respectful to invade another mathas and demand that the

> > devotees there accept your guru. ISKCON has never shown disrespect to

> > other mathas like that, nor have I personally ever shown disrespect to

> > anyone just because he or she is not an ISKCON devotee.